The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — are re-assembling to celebrate the 2010s. In this decade, we’ve seen some of the most iconic performances of all time, including burning pianos, projected stickmen and Ukrainian giants. Speaking of which, it’s time to review Zlata Ognevich from Ukraine with her third-placer “Gravity”.

After their then worst score ever in 2012, Ukraine needed to bounce back swiftly in 2013. What better way to do it than an other-worldly track that sounds like it’d be at home in a blockbuster Disney movie? Doesn’t hurt that the singer was truly stunning and had bags of charisma, and lungs for days, of course.

Zlata’s performance began with a gentleman named Igor Vovkovinskiy carrying her onto the stage and placing her on a stone platform straight out of a woodland-esque scene. Igor was somewhat noticeable since he is one of the tallest men in the world, so of course they dressed him to fit the fantasy of the show they put on. Everything worked together perfectly, and Zlata got her podium finish. Are the jury still living the dream-scene or did “Gravity” bring us back down to earth?

Zlata Ognevich – “Gravity”

“Gravity” reviews

Pablo: An act where the performer was carried around by one of the tallest people alive should not be this forgettable. Zlata was great live and looks stunning, but ever since the 2013 contest wrapped up, I can say I seldom revisit this entry. “Gravity” overall just says nothing and, despite its performer’s undeniable talent, transmits very little on stage, with a flat, average feeling over the three minutes.

Score: 4.5/10

Robyn: I wasn’t at all fussed by this song back in 2013, but in the last year it has started to grow on me. The introduction, with Igor Vovkovinskiy’s “fantasy giant”, is gloriously kitschy. But once that’s over with, the emotional heft of the song starts to build. Zlata sells it with honestly and emotion and brings a pleasant lightness to the stage. It’s not Ukraine’s best entry of the 2010s, but it really holds up.

Score: 8/10

Jonathan: My personal favourite of 2013, Zlata Ognevich brought all the Disney-inspired theatrics that 17-year-old Jonathan adored. Shining bright upon her podium in a formfitting gown while ominous backing singers lurk in the background, the performance of “Gravity” has just as many shades of light and dark as a feature film. Topped off with flawless vocals, the 2.345-metre-tall Igor Vovkovinskiy, meaningful arm movements and a catchy underlying beat, it’s the total package that remains one of 23-year-old Jonathan’s favourite Eurovision entries to this day.

Score: 9/10

Luis: I’ve got a love/hate relationship with “Gravity”. My desire to call this song a masterpiece collides with its hystrionic violins and the overacted chorus members, who could well shut up for a while and just let Zlata sing. Ukraine’s attempt at a fairytale has added a bit too much of sugar and it borders the line of being inedible.

Score: 7/10

Natalie: I hated this song when it came out. I didn’t like Zlata’s vocals, I find the constant chords jarring, I thought the Disney element was annoying, and I felt it didn’t go anywhere. I still stand by the points that it feels very underdone, and the lyrics don’t make any sense, but now I do appreciate it. It’s a really sweet fantastical song with an uplifting message and a shamelessly happy energy. And I’m glad it did well for Ukraine. You be a butterfly, Zlata, you earned it!

Score: 8/10

Charlotte: I still don’t really understand this concept. Zlata Ognevich being carried in by a giant viking type of guy. Her voice is one of the stronger ones in the contest and – of course — she is beautiful. Unfortunately, her staging kind of killed her whole performance, for me. The giant guy in the beginning distracted me too much. Throughout the whole performance I kept asking myself, why was he there? After the three minutes of hard thinking, I realised that the performance was over and I didn’t get my answer.

Score: 4/10

In the Wiwi Jury we have 24 jurors but only have room for six reviews. The remaining scores are below:

William: 6.5/10

Antranig: 3/10

Angus: 5/10

Lucy: 6.5/10

Sebastian: 6/10

Bernardo: 7.5/10

Deban: 8/10

Calvin: 9.5/10

Oliver: 9.5/10

Kristin: 6/10

Edd: 9.5/10

Lukas: 9/10

Barnabas: 9/10

Florian: 7/10

Steinunn: 6/10

Julian: 7.5/10

Katie: 7/10

Tom: 7/10

We have removed the highest and lowest scores prior to calculating the average. This is to remove outliers and potential bias. We have removed a low of 3 and a high of 9.5.

Wiwi Jury verdict: 7.16/10

What do you think of this song? Share your own score and review below!

See all of our Wiwi Jury of the 2010s rankings here

25 Comments
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Purple Mask
Purple Mask
4 years ago

Wow, Ukraine had a run of really solid entries, year after year. This one is all about the vocal line. Piercingly powerful and elegant, this song could easily have been sung as an operatic aria. The fact that it was not actually performed that way is a credit to their creative team. The out-there staging really worked for me on this one, and so did the unusual melody-driven song. Good memories.

Peyton
Peyton
4 years ago

The song that got me into Eurovision!! I remember the first time I heard this song back in 2012 (when Ukraine had its national selection) and immediately fell in love with Zlata and this song!! I feel like it wasn’t my obsession with this song that made me stick with the contest and become the huge fan I am today!! While I don’t really listen to it all that much anymore, it will always have a special place in my heart and forever be my favorite Eurovision song!!

Gorilla716
Gorilla716
4 years ago

I’ll admit that the song is pretty cheesy and sounds like it came from a Disney movie but nonetheless I love it and it deserved its placing! Zlata is also an absolutely stunning woman and an incredibly talented singer and her music outside Eurovision is great as well! I really hope she’ll do Eurovision again!

Joe
Joe
4 years ago

Good vocal, ok song. Not my favorite they’ve ever sent (that’d be 1944) or of that year (Denmark or Malta) but it’s fun to listen to again. Zlata was terrific. 8/10

Sabrina
Sabrina
4 years ago

The kitschy staging really paid off, how can you forget when your singer looks (and sounds) like a Disney princess and gets to the stage carried by a giant? But, as much as I appreciate Zlata’s efforts, I don’t like the song and I think the instrumental and the backing vocals made it too “chunky” for my taste.

Jo.
Jo.
4 years ago

Very cheesy, but somehow I like it. 3rd place was maybe too high though.

Roelof Meesters
Roelof Meesters
4 years ago

I absolutely ADORE this entry and this absolutely deserved top 3, and imo it was better than Azertbaijan and Denmark that year. Zlata belts these notes and I honestly think that she is one of the best female vocalists in Eurovision history. One of Ukraines many Eurovision highlights.

zelenovi
zelenovi
4 years ago

Sorry, hater alert here! 2013 was probably my least favourite edition of the decade. I found very few real highlights that final (notable exceptions: Alcohol is Free, Cezar from Romania, and as a Dutch person, watching Anouk break our curse was of course utterly fantastic), and two of the most actually unusual and culturally interesting songs (whatever their quality) were left in the semis with Nth Macedonia and Bulgaria. I think the whole top 3 for me is basically just songs that were competent and didn’t screw up – Emmelie de Forest was standard eurovision, Azerbaijan had a clever prop… Read more »

Sam
Sam
4 years ago
Reply to  zelenovi

I agree on Anouk, ‘Birds’ was the song that changed everything for The Netherlands. Besides that, Italy’s ‘L’essenziale’ was another of the great songs of the night which deserved a top-3 spot.

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
4 years ago

This is actually in my top five Eurovision songs of all time but wasn’t my winner in 2013 (it was my #2). I loved 2013! You could make a realistic argument that Zlata is the best female vocalist ever to perform at the contest. I would have no problem with that.

Polegend Godgarina
Polegend Godgarina
4 years ago

a magical song, and the music video is amazing. 10/10 n my 2013 winner

James
James
4 years ago

I heard the original after listening to one eventually used for ESC. The former sounded unfinished and the backing singers had too much of a presence than Zlata herself.

At least for me, it lacked structure for me to follow the song along. Fortunately, the revamp helped fixed a lot of those issues.

James
James
4 years ago
Reply to  James

I actually liked the backing vocalists as well. The NF version just felt like there’s an imbalance between them and Zlata. 🙂

Patrick
Patrick
4 years ago

I still looooove this song and Zlata is fantastic!!!

Paul
Paul
4 years ago

Everything’s scored above 7 so far… can anyone think of anything that won’t even get close to that? I’m struggling to think of one… maybe ‘running scared’?

Mr. Vanilla Bean
Mr. Vanilla Bean
4 years ago
Reply to  Paul

Maybe it’s a rule to score anything between 7-8, probably even the Russian grannies. But all scores are meaningless, we know that by now. They shouldn’t be taken seriously, since everyone rates things differently.

Mr. Vanilla Bean
Mr. Vanilla Bean
4 years ago

Well, you know what they say in Ukraine: You’ll never break free from gravity. 😉 I also preferred the original, simply for the way she turned it up when singing “I will wait no longeeeeer”.

Skiwalko
Skiwalko
4 years ago

I know it’s been mentioned already but it really does feel like a Disney song – empowering number about daring to take a risk with giants, butterflies and swords in it, sung by a princess lookalike? C’mon… Musically it’s not a masterpiece, but still a very pleasant and instantly memorable track, that didn’t really get any older after those 6 years. Vocally it’s a perfection that with the addition of the backing singers becomes even more enchanted and lively. Lyrically it’s a bit strange, but also quite interesting. And staging-wise it was one of the stand-outs of 2013, that properly… Read more »

Mr. Vanilla Bean
Mr. Vanilla Bean
4 years ago
Reply to  Skiwalko

Really? So they didn’t even disappoint you in, say, 2011 or 2012?

Skiwalko
Skiwalko
4 years ago

2011 was OK (tho we all know it wasn’t the song that gave them the 4th place) and 2012 is on my endless list of Eurovision guilty pleasures. If there’s any Ukrainian song I didn’t like, it’d be either “Hasta la Vista” or “Time”, tho even they were kinda fine to me.

Mr. Vanilla Bean
Mr. Vanilla Bean
4 years ago
Reply to  Skiwalko

I’ll indulge them for “Time”, only because the lead singer was handsome.

ESCFan2009
ESCFan2009
4 years ago

Btw, it’s not really a competition like in one single Eurovision year, but as ESC fans love rankings, I put the presented songs so far in an order and finetuned my points:
1) Bulgaria 2017: 10/10
2) The Netherlands 2014: 9.5/10
3) Russia 2015: 9/10
4) Austria 2018: 8.5/10
5) Sweden 2011: 8/10
6) Sweden 2015: 8/10
7) Italy 2015: 8/10
8) Israel 2018: 7.5/10
9) Portugal 2017: 7/10
10) Ukraine 2013: 6.5/10
11) Moldova 2017: 6/10
12) Serbia 2012: 5/10

ESCFan2009
ESCFan2009
4 years ago

There is a Disney-esque feeling in here, which I generally adore, so I can understand Jonathan (and we are the same age! #twins xD). But the song itself feels kind of flat and the “giant” was confusing. Original but confusing xD 6.5/10

Mr. Vanilla Bean
Mr. Vanilla Bean
4 years ago

I just realized CATS, Grande Amore, Fuego and Soldi are the only favorite entries of mine that made the top 3 in all of the 2010s. Not a whole lot, if I think about it. lol

Mr. Vanilla Bean
Mr. Vanilla Bean
4 years ago

Musically, a huge letdown after yesterday’s CATS. It’s like I got an organic café latte yesterday morning and now I only get yesterday’s milk gone sour. Zlata was great vocally, of course, but everything else was a joke. Using the giant as a prop felt so tacky and pointless – the Ukranian delegation obviously and rightfully once again felt that they needed a distraction from the pointless song. The original line was “You’ll never break free from gravity” and then they just changed it to the oh so clever “My gravity. MY GRAVITY! GRAVITYYY!!!”. I resented that top 3 placing… Read more »